this is water, this is water, this is water...

To reform an evildoer, you must before anything else help him to an awareness that what he did was evil.

Alfred Polgar. “You must help him to an awareness…” Derision is not help; brutal exposure of perceived logical errors is not help; sarcastic decimation of straw-men is not help. Also: neither agreementacquiescence nor victory are synonymous with awareness. nor

This relates to a previous post on moral vigilantism, and I think well-summarizes why much of what is written against those we oppose is merely intended to pleasure ourselves: rhetoric is often onanistic.

(via mills)

It took me a long time to understand that it is more important to be kind than to be right. It is more important to be kind than to be comfortable. It is important to be kind even when kindness is not reciprocated. Especially when it is not reciprocated. For every day that I have lived so far and every day that I will live there is an aphorism or parable that is trying to remind me of this insight. It is everywhere. It still took me a long time to see and understand the importance of kindness. Maturity, humility, civility are all beneficial consequences of an attitude of kindness.

I am still not very good at it. However, when I am kind to others, I have found that it is difficult for others not to reciprocate kindness. When I am kind to others, I have found that I am impervious to the insults and abuses that previously wounded me. Kindness may sound like a soft concept compared to justice and truth and even love and hate, but it is not.

An attitude of moral outrage encourages the view that kindness to evildoers is an affirmation of their misdeeds, but it is really the attitude required to successfully do as Polgar recommends and help them to an awareness of the evil nature of their actions.